Curse Mark: Corpse Stitcher

"A toad?"

Just as Xiao Ran was about to ask why, he suddenly felt a force grip him from behind and carry him backward through the air.

Li Ji's figure rapidly receded into the distance. The expression on his gaunt face remained wooden as he muttered to himself, "That's assuming you survive first."

"Gasp!"

Inside the coffin, Xiao Ran's eyes flew open. He instinctively tried to sit up, only to bump his head against the lid.

Thud! The dull impact hurt so much that tears sprang to his eyes.

The pain jolted him fully awake. He took the diary from his pocket and felt its lingering warmth.

"Did Yang Xuan save me?"

Xiao Ran was quietly thankful he had kept the diary. If it hadn't pulled him back, his soul might have sunk into the bottomless abyss by now. At the same time, he understood. No wonder the woman in white had pointed at him and said there was a ghost after he left the cellar. She must have meant the diary.

"Clink, clink..."

Just then, something jingled in Xiao Ran's pocket. He reached in and rummaged around, then found one little gold bar after another in his hand.

His expression changed at the sight of the gleaming gold bars, and he immediately tossed them aside.

By all rights, these seven gold bars had just nearly killed him, and now they belonged to him.

But once bitten, twice shy. After taking such a terrible hit, how could Xiao Ran dare keep them on him? If that Old Demon woman had some other trick and used the bars to harm him again, he'd regret it for the rest of his life.

After tossing the gold bars away, Xiao Ran furrowed his brow, wondering how to get out. Then he heard the villagers outside murmuring ever louder, and could faintly make out the sound of a suona.

At the same time, blood-red lines suddenly appeared before Xiao Ran's eyes.

[Side Quest triggered: Soul Snatching]

Quest Description: You failed to have your soul taken according to the Old Woman's plan, throwing the resurrection ritual off course. Li Shang's soul is now awakening in his original body. You must satisfy the three conditions Li Shang sets, or he will immediately transform into a zombie and tear you to pieces.

You may refuse Li Shang twice.

Warning: Do not recklessly damage the corpse, or you will trigger Li Shang's transformation prematurely.

Quest Hint: If you can repair Li Shang's body before he awakens, the resurrection ritual will end early.

Quest Reward: F-class

(Note: The reward will be calculated after you complete this instance of the Lost City!)

Seeing the quest before him, Xiao Ran turned deathly pale and couldn't help cursing, "Damn it!"

This quest looked like it was asking for his life.

But after complaining, Xiao Ran quickly pulled himself together. He had two choices. The first was to try to complete the quest. If he failed, he would die. The second was to charge out and fight the people outside.

Either way looked like suicide. He could injure himself to draw on the power of Evil God Xing Xie, but that depended on the situation. With so many villagers outside, even if he cut himself down there, he might not be able to beat them. And on top of that, the Old Woman was there, with her strange powers.

After weighing his options, Xiao Ran could only take out his phone and switch on the flashlight. He would complete the quest first.

By the light of his phone, Xiao Ran leaned over the corpse.

No one knew how long it had been buried, but strangely, it hadn't rotted. Its flesh simply looked less fresh, like an old corpse that had spent over a decade in a Funeral Home's cold storage.

"This incision..."

Xiao Ran studied the cut on Li Shang's neck. It was very clean, but he couldn't tell how it had been made. After all, his job was repairing corpses; he wasn't nearly as knowledgeable about wounds as a professional coroner.

Repairing the corpse wouldn't be difficult. The problem was the tools...

Then Xiao Ran smacked his forehead. "How could I forget about that?"

He hurriedly turned and rummaged through the coffin. Before long, he found the backpack from earlier.

"Thank goodness. That 'kind soul' threw the backpack in too."

Before setting out, he had brought along the red lacquered case his grandfather had left behind. It contained old tools his grandfather had used as a Corpse Stitcher. They were a little worn, but still useful.

Xiao Ran took out the case and reached inside.

At that moment, his hand touched the iron token on top. The token, which had been wrapped in red cloth, suddenly flashed a few times. Immediately afterward, a fierce burning sensation surged from it.

It hurt!

Xiao Ran's first instinct was to pull his hand away, but the token clung to his palm like a red-hot iron.

Then dark red smoke suddenly poured out of the token. Amid the swirling smoke, something seemed to be taking shape. Xiao Ran's eyes widened as the smoke gradually formed a square sheet, like a contract, covered in crooked writing.

The writing on the contract twisted together, like a venomous snake burrowing into his palm.

Xiao Ran stared at the words in horror. They wriggled like living things, slowly sinking into his skin. As they seeped in, memories that weren't his forced their way into his mind, bringing on a violent headache.

Xiao Ran felt as if a catfish had burrowed into his skull and started thrashing around in his brain.

He closed his eyes and endured the pain, trying to understand what was in his mind.

Gradually, a strange totem appeared in Xiao Ran's thoughts.

[Curse Mark: Corpse Stitcher]

E-class (Can devour other sequence curse marks to strengthen itself, or combine with other series to advance.)

Attributes: Physique +5, Strength +5

Specialized Skill: Master-level Suturing Technique

Grants slight resistance to hypnosis, illusions, charm, curses, and other negative effects.

When the holder uses a Cursed Object, the curse mark's traits will combine with the object and manifest as a unique ability exclusive to the holder.

(Note: The abilities produced by the same Cursed Object can vary completely when it comes into contact with different curse marks.)

What was a curse mark?

A brief flicker of confusion crossed Xiao Ran's mind, but before he could process the information, a new message appeared in his thoughts.

"Special Cursed Object [Calamity Suppressing Token] detected. Activate?"

Xiao Ran lowered his head and looked at the iron token in his hand.

"Could it be this thing?"

Xiao Ran's heart stirred, and he tried to activate it. Whatever it was, he'd brought it from home. In this hellish place, having a little more power could only be a good thing.

As Xiao Ran confirmed, a chill spread through the iron token. The dark red curse mark that had just burrowed into his flesh emerged from beneath his skin again and wrapped itself around the token.

Then a message appeared in his mind.

F-class Cursed Object: Calamity Suppressing Token: Corpse Stitcher

Energy Value: 0/100

Suppress calamity and ward off evil; rise in rank and grow wealthy. When stitching up a corpse, you may enjoy the following two privileges.

Privilege 1: Calamity Suppression. Forcefully suppress evil spirits and malevolent entities, greatly weakening their power.

Privilege 2: Spirit Seizing. Once you complete a repair, you may read the deceased's memories from when they were alive and obtain one of their abilities.

(Note: You cannot obtain abilities that exceed the Cursed Object's own level.)

For each corpse stitched, you will gain an equivalent amount of Energy Value based on the difficulty of the corpse, allowing you to raise the Calamity Suppressing Token's grade.

Duration: 1 hour.

Cooldown: 2 hours.

After seeing the message in his mind, Xiao Ran was first surprised. Then he glanced sideways at the corpse in front of him, narrowed his eyes, and smirked. "Just the thing to practice on!"

Xiao Ran immediately bent over and straddled Li Shang's corpse. He took out a steel nail and hammered it into the bone beneath the neck.

Li Shang's head had been severed, leaving a very clean cut, but repairing it wasn't that simple. If Xiao Ran hurriedly stitched it up, gravity would cause the flesh to shift and deform.

He needed to use steel nails to secure the head to the neck before stitching it together.

It looked complicated, but it was actually simple enough. After all, he was repairing a corpse, not performing some complex surgery.

As Xiao Ran worked, a progress bar appeared before him. The more complete the repair became, the faster the bar advanced.

Suddenly, Li Shang's body trembled slightly. His eyes slowly opened, cold light gleaming in his gray pupils.

Startled by the sudden change, Xiao Ran stopped what he was doing and warily watched Li Shang.

The first thing Li Shang said was, "I want something to eat!"

As he spoke, his eyes fixed intently on Xiao Ran. His skin began rapidly turning black, and even his fingernails visibly started to grow.

"Here, have something to eat!"

Xiao Ran had meant to refuse. Where was he supposed to find food in a coffin? Besides, whatever Li Shang meant by "something to eat" probably wasn't as simple as asking for food.

Then Xiao Ran remembered there was something else in his backpack.

He pulled the backpack over, took out a butter-oil candle, and shoved it straight into Li Shang's mouth.

"Help yourself. Eat up!"

Li Shang opened his mouth wide and stared deeply at Xiao Ran. What he wanted to eat certainly wasn't a candle. But for some reason, once it was in his mouth, it tasted like malt sugar—more and more delicious with every bite. It was also sticky and tacky, and he couldn't stop eating.

As the saying went, gods smelled incense and ghosts ate candles. The butter-oil candles were something Second-rate craftsmen had specially prepared to prevent corpses from transforming.

They were made with butter oil and malt sugar, which grew stickier with time. Once it coated your mouth, you couldn't say a word.

As Li Shang ate the candle, his pitch-black skin gradually returned to normal. Even his fingernails went back to how they had been.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran's eyes lifted slightly as he thought, Looks like this guy isn't that hard to deal with.

Li Shang stared at him, able only to keep chewing. He finally managed to finish the candle in his mouth and was about to make his second request when Xiao Ran swiftly pulled another candle from the backpack and shoved it straight into Li Shang's throat without hesitation.

Li Shang: ???

Noticing Li Shang's gaze, Xiao Ran grinned and took out five or six more candles. "You just keep eating. I'll make sure you're full!"